A walk on the Wild side

Pauline Wild looks back on the days when she was a woman on a mission – to show that a mother with young children could also play an influential role in a leading law firm.

She recalls being glued to her laptop in the evenings after picking up one of her children from nursery, long before working from home became an accepted post-covid norm.

The mum-of-two says: “When I became partner I wanted to get really involved in the running of the business. I wanted to be instrumental, to show that women could have that kind of role and also be a parent and to show that we could have more of a balanced leadership board.”

Pauline certainly made her point. Today she is managing partner of Lancashire law firm Forbes – leading a business with 384 employees, 67 partners and directors and a £24.5m turnover that is growing year-on-year.

She took on the role three years ago at the practice she has worked in for 23 years. “I always say that if I was a stick of rock, you’d find Forbes written right through me,” she says with a smile.

Pauline is now driving a bold strategy that aims to make Forbes the number one regional law firm in the UK. It is being delivered from its impressive head office at Walton Summit, on the outskirts of Preston.

Growth is firmly on the agenda for the Legal 500 practice. She says: “Growth is high on our agenda and right now, and for the foreseeable, we want to remain independent.

"I see myself as a custodian of a 200-year-old law firm and a very special place to work.”

Forbes’ growth is being driven through efforts to create more of a “high performing culture” with the different legal arms of the firm forming strategies and working closer together.

Pauline says: “We’re seeing more alignment and more cross-selling. It’s a culture shift from the top down. We have seen good growth every year, not just in turnover but in our net profit margin as well.”

She adds that as a Lancashire business “being authentic” is also important and looking around her adds: “Whatever we are trying to do nationally we’ll do with these values and that purpose in mind. If we can do it here and can sell ourselves and grow our margins here, we should be able to do it in other regions as well.”

Forbes already has offices in Manchester and Leeds but Pauline says: “We’re not trying to replicate exactly what have here – we have some strong players in those regions supported by our people in Lancashire. We know the gaps and the role we can play in the legal sector in those markets.”

The north east of England and London are also on the radar when it comes to future expansion but there are also plans afoot much nearer to home. Pauline says: “We want to expand further into Cumbria and on the Fylde coast, we don’t do enough there.”

Acquisitions or mergers with firms in those parts of the world are part of the strategy. With consolidation continuing in the sector Pauline is aware that other practices with an eye on that number one spot have pots of private equity cash to play with.

But she is adamant it can be done on Forbes’ terms, adding: “We will remain in charge of all the decision making and in control of our own culture, retaining our brand and our heritage.”

Pauline was brought up in Oldham, the first person in her family to go to university. Her father drove oil tankers and her mother was a midwife.

After law school in York, she began her career in Forbes in 2002 as a paralegal. She says she “always wanted to be a lawyer” and confesses that a fascination with the psychology of criminals meant that as a teenager she imagined having a career in criminal law.

However, her early years in Lancashire pointed her towards commercial and corporate law, even though she had little knowledge of the business world.

Again, it could be a challenging environment, especially when she became a mother with young children. She recalls: “Corporate law was very male dominated. Deals could be massively time-consuming, especially to get them over the line. You’d work long days and into the night and at weekends and into the early hours in the office.”

Times have now changed in the profession, thanks to the efforts of Pauline and others.

She says: “Today we want people to have a full life in every way. When I was working towards becoming a partner, part-time wasn’t really an option. There weren’t many female partners, certainly no part-time ones, and again it was very male dominated.

“A lot of women got to associate level and then had children and didn’t progress from that point on. Now we have more female partners than male and we have part-time female partners as well – it is much better balanced.”

The route to becoming a partner in the business is also now clearly laid out. She says: “Over the last 12 months we have created a framework. People know now what they need to do, what experience they need in particular areas to go on to become a partner.”

When the chance to become managing partner of the practice came about, Pauline, 45, whose children are now teenagers, says: “I was definitely interested in being a member of the executive board but didn’t put myself forward for the role at the start of the process.”

One of the reasons for her initial reluctance was her impending marriage to Lancashire entrepreneur Wayne Wild and her focus on the blending of their two families. They both have two children from previous marriages and, she adds: “I enjoyed being a corporate lawyer.”

However, after a number of partners suggested she should go for it, she put herself forward.

She says: “I was nervous taking on the role, but I’ve got really good people at all levels and lots of support around me. I like to surround myself with positive energy. I have a leadership coach and Wayne is a good sounding board as well.”

The departure of chief executive Oliver Burton, and the decision not to replace him gave Pauline’s role even more importance. “It was a big change for me personally,” she says. “All my life I trained to be a lawyer and now I’m leading the operation.”

There have been attempts to tempt her away from Forbes and away from the county over the years, but she explains: “The Lancashire business community is special. I love Lancashire people and I love their warmth.”

Pauline, who lives in the Ribble Valley, with her parents nearby, also speaks positively about Forbes’ relationship with Lancashire Business View’s Red Rose Awards. The law firm has been a headline sponsor from its inception.

Pauline says: “It is fabulous. We got involved to grow our presence in the commercial market, but it has now gone beyond that.

"We get to meet some fantastic businesses, and we’ve won work as a result. It has also been great to see the awards grow over the years to the amazing event it is now.”

Warming to her theme, she goes on: “There is a brilliant professional service community in Lancashire, it is a very supportive community.

“There are some brilliant lawyers in Lancashire, you really don’t need to look anywhere else for legal advice. You don’t need to go looking for expertise in the big cities, in fact businesses in those cities should be coming here."